BFAR gives P10.8M-worth aid to Ilocos Norte fisherfolks

LAOAG CITY, April 14 (PIA)  – The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)  turned over P10.8 million-worth of livelihood aid to Ilocos Norte fisherfolks who were victims of  Super Typhoon Lawin last year.

BFAR Region 1 Director Nestor Domenden said that Undersecretary Eduardo Gongona, the BFAR’s executive director, personally awarded the assistance in the form of fishery projects and equipment to the fishermen in a simple ceremony held at the Centennial Arena here recently.

“The provision of support assistance was an effort to mend the typhoon damage to the livelihood of affected fisherfolks in Ilocos Norte,” Domenden said.

Among the turned over materials were 44,500 tilapia fingerlings, 424 units of fishing gears, 29 fiberglass boats, 12 chest freezers, 10 fish claddings, four fish stalls, three fish aggregating devices, and two smoke houses to fisherfolk beneficiaries and local government units from various municipalities in Ilocos Norte.

Two Community Fish Landing Centers (CFLCs) were awarded to Bacarra and Pagudpud. One Bottom-Up Budgeting (BUB) program worth 1.2 million pesos was also conferred to Bacarra.

As part of its fisherfolk poverty alleviation program, it was reported that BFAR, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), has been continuously sending fisheries rehab materials to the Ilocos since the region was struck by Typhoon Lawin on October 2016.

With nearly 74,000 registered fisherfolk and having contributed 4,100 metric tons of fish in 2016, the region remains as one of the Department of Agriculture’s prime movers of agri-fisheries development in Luzon. (Freddie G. Lazaro/PIA- 1)